When John receives a note from his professor urging him to go to London to see him, John sets off immediately. But before he arrives, his professor is discovered murdered in his study.
After John and two other young men, who were also on their way to see the professor at the time of his death, are questioned by the police inspector, they are approached by a strange old man who tells them they are the caretakers of a magical atlas. This atlas -- the Imaginarium Geographica -- contains all the worlds described by myths, legends and fairy tales and can be used to guide a person to and from imaginary lands. John is sure there is some kind of mix-up, but before he can protest, they are chased by mythical man-eating creatures and he finds himself running for his life.
What follows is a quest to save both the "real" and imaginary worlds from the evil Winter King who is taking over with his army of Shadow-Born, terrible, lifeless creatures that cannot be killed.
This isn't a nail-biter thriller, but it definitely is a great adventure story with plenty of action. The first chapter starts off with the murder and from then on the main characters are moving from one fantasy world to the next. There are plenty of talking animals, trolls, magic rings, and treachery. The language is a bit archaic, but it fits the 1917 England setting and is not unlike the writing found in many of the more classic fantasy novels. What kept me reading though, was all the references to characters, places and plots of myths (Greek, Eqyptian, Norse), legends (e.g. Arthurian) and other famous literary works (Jules Verne, Dickens). It was really neat to have them merge and interact together and kind of entertaining to look for the more subtle allusions throughout the book as well. The problem with this of course, is that readers who are not familiar with these tales will miss the references, especially since not all of them are explicitly explained in the book. However, this being said, those who like the more classic fantasy style will most likely still enjoy the book, as it the plot itself is intriguing enough.
This is the first in the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series. James Owen is also the illustrator and author of the StarChild comics and books.

Video game books don't have to be based on real video games. Cory Doctorow and Orson Scott Card both have written books that are sort of like video games, or are of interest to gamers, but neither of them are at the core postive about games and gaming or the passion for them. In fact they seem to be a bit of a warning about game culture.

Most of us would be surprised to find a guy reading Gossip Girls or Princess Diaries. There's no denying that there are specific trends when it comes to gender preferences. There's always been a big debate as to whether such preferences are inherent or a social construct, and pointing out differences between the genders has sometimes been confused for forms of discrimination. I would argue that acknowledging differences does not mean you are biased towards a particular gender -- preferential treatment does.

I thought I'd touch on some of the research on the topic of gender differences, particularly findings that might have an impact on reading preferences.

Research suggests:

• there are actual biological differences between male and female brain development that affect cognitive ability. MRI scans show that children's brains develop in difference sequences and times
• MRI scans reveal that the development in the area of brain for language (reading, verbal fluency, writing) and recognizing faces in the average 5 year old boy is 2-3 years behind a girl of the same age
• Development in the area of the brain that deals with Math and science in an average girl can mature 4-8 years later than an average boy
• It appears that there are more connections between the parts of the brain that deal with language and emotion in females - this might explain why most women like to read and talk about emotions more
• There seems to be less cross hemisphere activity in boys' brains than in girls when working on certain tasks, in effect, boys' brains are less engaged during certain tasks and extra sound, colour, motion and physical stimulation can enhance the experience. This may explain why boys like non-fiction (quick tidbits of information) and action driven plots.

I think what we need to realize is that biological factors mean each gender learns differently due to their different strengths. Boys might be more interested in topics that have to do with math and science because they understood those better than girls at an earlier age. Girls might be more interested in narrative and expository texts focusing on the emotional development of characters because their brains are wired for this.

This is not to say biology determines our interests, but rather that it can play a role in addition to personal experience and environmental and social conditions. Of course there will always be exceptions where certain girls are brilliant at math and science and boys are exceptional readers at a young age. Note too that biological differences can often be overcome by extra study. The main point here is that it is important to recognize that different preferences exist and to shape a library collection to meet these needs.

If you can attend a school where there are no adults, where your fellow students are the teachers, the admin staff, the cafeteria workers, and some days you get to play paintball all day, and some days you study random topics like land surveying, and on top of all that, there is no such thing as tests or grades, would you jump at the chance?
Sounds good, doesn't it?  After being moved from one foster family to another, Benson Fisher thought he's finally got himself out of that depressing neverending cycle when his scholarship application for Maxwell Academy got accepted. In less than an hour at his new school though, Benson would give anything to be back in a foster home, because Maxwell Academy was only desirable if you could overlook a few things: there were cameras everywhere watching your every move, there were a ton of rules to follow, students who broke the rules and were sent to detention never came back. Stuff like that...
Oh, and once you were in, you could never leave the school again.
Benson was outraged at this prison-like treatment, and he couldn't figure out why the rest of the students didn't seem to be in any hurry to escape. Rather, after some arguing and fighting, the kids have reached a truce and organized themselves into three big gangs to govern themselves. Fine, they might be content to go to class and decorate for school dance and do all the "normal" high school stuff, but Benson was going to get away.


Books that have hit it big always has a slur of wannabes following in its footsteps, and they don't always measure up, but I think Variant is a worthy readalike suggestion for readers of Maze Runner. It was an intriguing read from beginning to end, especially the dynamics among the kids. It's scary when you realize that whoever that put these kids and lock them up in the school may not be the kids' biggest enemy. The kids themselves are going to be.  Then when Benson discovered the secret of one of his classmates, time's running out and everything got scarier and scarier (you'll never think about woodland creatures like deer and bunny rabbits the same again). And the cliffhanger ending... man, when's the next book coming out?
So pretty much nothing to complain about, except the cover!  There's got to be something more exciting than that.
To be published in October 2011. Thank you to HarperCollins for providing an advanced e-galley at netGalley. 

Two posts today. The next one will be about a specific book series. But first, something everyone probably has heard of, but I suspect a lot of people don't really know anything about.

Video games are a big part of many boys' lives. Actually, they are a big part of everyone's lives, since the average age of gamers is 37 according the the Entertainment Software Association, with 42 percent of gamers being women, but games are traditionally considered teen boys' business. Gaming is also a huge industry, with a market value of 74 billion dollars. Why am I telling you this? Games are important to a lot of people, so, like them or not (I love 'em) they are not to be ignored. It shouldn't therefore be surprising that a number of games have been spun off to other media, including books. All this can be used to our advantage in promoting reading in teen boys.

I mentioned that I love games. I have several gaming systems (4 kinds of Nintendo, a PC, and an XBox 360), and I play regularly. I play M rated games, but that rating doesn't really do justice to the quality and storytelling of many games. There is nothing in most games that is any worse than a movie or even many books, so don't think that the shootin' and killin' is anything worse than the frequent abuses of people and drugs in a lot of YA novels. In fact, the games that do have things that aren't appropriate for kids, I suspect kids wouldn't be too terribly interested in anyway, just as not many teens would much care about, say Woody Allen.

Anyway, you should be aware of the various games and game system teens like. GTA isn't Pokemon, and Halo isn't Mario. Fans of Nintendo may not be fans of Playstation and XBox. They aren't all the same, and don't all appeal to the same people. Know your boys, and it will go a long way into getting them reading.

Mass Effect is a trilogy of games, two of which have so far been released with a third due in 2012. Humanity has just recently joined the greater galactic civilization where humans are regarded with great suspicion. In the games, players can create their character (male or female, good or bad) and guide the story along various paths, whether saving or destroying species, individuals, etc. with the ultimate goal of saving the galaxy from an ancient threat. While this is the general plot, it is impossible to exsplain more; player chocie have major impact on the storyline. Knowledge of the games isn't necessary, but it is the draw to these books.

The first book, Mass Effect : Revelations, is a prequel featuring some of the background characters and the villain of the first game, but is largely a new cast with a stand-alone adventure that sets up the plot of the rest of the game series.

The second, Ascension, is even more independent, but is set between the first two games: while the universe is the same, there isn't a direct link to the action in the games. What is interesting though is the lengths the author has to go to to avoid mention plot points, as the game has several, very different, endings. The third and upcoming later books in the series will follow the same formula, sharing the universe with the games, but not being directly tied to them.

The writing isn't very good, but quality writing isn't the point. It's an expansion of a universe, sort of like Star Wars novels. In this case, the author also happens to be the lead writer for the games, so there aren't any many major contradictions with the games.

Would you rather have mayonaise tears or Kool-Aid sweat? Have multiple lives like a video game player in Donkey Kong or multiple weapons as in Halo? Your dad be Hulk Hogan or Gandalf?

Would you Rather...? by Justin Heimberg and David Gomberg contains 1500 dilemmas like these. They range from questions about appearance, to sex, to superhero powers. (and some are so random, they don't fit into any kind of category at all.) It's a pretty ridiculous and, some may argue, pointless book, but it's also one of those strangely addictive ones where you can't help reading the next page. This is partly due to the fact that it's so easy to read -- there are only two to three questions per page and you can open the book and start reading at any page. Cartoons and drawings can be found throughout the book and the questions are divided into different categories (e.g. celebreties and pop culture, Extremely painful and extremely fatal). In addition to the "would you rather" questions, there are the "Would you..." questions (e.g. Would you accept the power to fly in exchange for weighing 500 pounds?) and travel games (e.g. car bingo where you have to look for people doing strange things in their cars).
If you have a teen looking for a quick read on the weird and gross side, this just might be thing to recommend.

Heimberg and Gomberg have written quite a few other Would you Rather books with different themes (Doubly Disgusting, Dirty, etc.) and Heimberg is the author of some of the Worst Case Scenario handbooks.

David Gerswhin is lying in bed next to Zelda. This is the closest he's ever got to a girl (and a super hot one no less) and it should be one of the most romantic moments in his life, but alas, he knows that all Zelda can think about is Johnny Depp. No, not like your average crazy-about-Johnny's-good-looks-and-bad-boy-image girls.  Zelda is a warrior from the planet of Vahalal and she is on a mission to kidnap her chosen one, aka Johnny Depp, back so that he can, well, help make babies to prevent the extinction of her Amazonian-like race. Yes, at first David and his therapist father thought Zelda is delusional too, but after she's showed off some of her out of this world space moves, he's convinced of her crazy story and content to be her loyal Pudin (basically like a slave, pronounced "pudding") and race around Paris with her till she finds Johnny, all the while thinking why oh why is he not the right match. 
This is one wild adventure. Funny at times and plenty weird and ridiculous, and it's one of those books you just have to shush your inner voice of reason and just run with it. David's mom is a total riot, and the ruthless Vahalalians are equally entertaining. A good summer read.
» Read an interview with the author on School Library Journal.

In 1959, John Howard Griffin dyed his skin in an experiment. He decided to see what life would be like as a black man in the racially divide South of the United States. Without changing his name or the details of his life, he travelled around, even meeting people he knew who did not recognize him. He was entirely unsurprised to find that he was treated differently, poorly.

Cassel is from a family of Curse Workers -- people with supernatural abilities to influence others with a touch of their hands. Some can change others' emotions, luck, and dreams -- others can modify memories or even kill.
Because of their dangerous abilities, Curse Workers are feared and considered outlaws. Thing is, though, Cassel is the only one in his family who isn't a Curse Worker. He's always felt like an outsider and been torn between trying to lead a somewhat "normal" life and wanting to be like the rest of his family. He's also haunted by a horrifying event in his life -- the fact that he killed his best friend, Lila, but doesn't understand why and cannot remember the details of the event.
When Cassel has a disturbing dream about a white cat and wakes up sleepwalking, a chain of events follow which cause Cassel to question whether or not Lila is really dead and search for the truth about what really happened that day.
It's difficult to find any paranormal teen fiction that isn't about stunning vampires fighting over werewolf boyfriends or zombies competing for popularity at the local high school these days -- all plots that are too close to chicklit for my taste -- and probably plots that wouldn't interest most teen guys. I did find this story pretty intriguing though. The plot moves quite well, and certainly has a darker, more serious mood, without the superficial high school drama or brand name dropping you sometimes find in other YA novels. The idea of Curse Workers kind of reminds me of the mafia and mobsters of the early 1900s, and the book has some good action and seedy characters.

The problem is though, that the covers published in the US (especially the second and third books with photos of a female looking vacantly into space), might put off some guy readers.












I'm not sure if the covers published in the UK are that much bit better --the dripping red glove is kind of cool but the White Cat cover looks a bit drab.












I've only read the first in the Curse Workers series and reviews of the second and third books makes me fear that the story might morph into more of a romance... which would be a shame as this series really does have a good premise.